Am Hohen Ufer: “Polenaktion” [the expulsion of Polish Jews from the German Reich] and Reich pogrom night Hanover’s historical origins are to be found at the ford across the River Leine and the river island just by the Beginenturm. One thousand years later, buildings at the point known as Am Hohen Ufer [literally: High Bank] are…
State Tax Office [Oberfinanzpräsidium]: Legislated robbery After the liberation from National Socialism, very few perpetrators from the top echelons of the Party, Gestapo, SS, industry and judiciary were punished. However, the repression and robbing of the Jewish population had many accomplices in public office and administrative departments: pen-pushing perpetrators. Terror and bureaucracy went hand in…
Former court jail in Hanover The former court jail was demolished after the war. only a memorial next to the Kulturzentrum Pavillon [Pavilion Cultural Centre] commemorates the former court jail in Hanover and its role in National Socialism. Between 1933 and 1945, large numbers of political opponents of the regime were detained here, as well…
The police headquarters in Hardenbergstrasse Place of persecution: at the outset of the Nazi regime, the police headquarters building, inaugurated in 1903, housed not only the Kripo [abbreviation of ‘Kriminalpolizei’, the Criminal Investigation Department] but also the Hanover Gestapo [abbreviation of ‘Geheime Staatspolizei’, the Secret State Police]. Opponents of the Nazi regime as well…
Book burning memorial at the Geibelbastion On 10 May 1933, members of Hanover’s universities burnt the books of Jewish, liberal, pacifist and Marxist writers at the Bismarck Tower at the Maschwiesen (site of the present-day Maschsee lake). Hanover: The book burning on 10 May 1933 at the Bismarck Tower, press photo from: Die Weltschau, 21…
The Maschsee: Prodigious plans For joggers, water sports enthusiasts or rollerbladers, the Maschsee most likely rates as Hanover’s most popular local recreational lake reserve. Yet, few are aware that it was built by the Nazis as an architectural showpiece. However, plans for the lake go back further. Torchbearer column on the north bank of the…
Renaming of streets: “Adolf Hitler Street” After the handover of power to the National Socialists, a host of streets and squares in Hanover, as in other cities in the German Reich, are renamed for political motives. Not just main shopping thoroughfares such Bahnhofstrasse, but also quiet side streets and intersecting streets fall victim to the…
Lange Laube: “SA Street” and Gauleitung [regional party leaders] Post-1933, many streets in Hanover were renamed after prominent National Socialist figures or in honour of party organisations. Bahnhofstrasse became “Adolf-Hitler-Strasse”, the square in front of the Stadthalle [now the Congress Centre] became “Hermann-Göring-Platz”, and Lange Laube became “Strasse der SA”, SA Street [SA is the…
Cemetery of Honour on the northern bank of the Maschsee Graves of victims from all over Europe: this cemetery is the resting place of 386 concentration camp prisoners, forced labourers and prisoners of war from many European countries. The victims include 154 from the former Soviet Union who were murdered in a mass shooting that…
The Holocaust memorial at Opernplatz Inaugurated in 1994, the memorial next to the opera house commemorates Jewish citizens of Hanover that were deported and murdered. Although faced with a measure of opposition, the civic initiative Memorial association [Memorial e.V.] succeeded in erecting this important site in the heart of the city. The costs for the…